Avatar Khan: Book 1 - Chapter 1
by SymphonyOfPain
Summary: Let me tell you a story about Khan the forgotten avatar. The Avatar who gave it his all to keep the Spirit world and the Living world from colliding into oblivion. (A calibration between me and my friend JariahSynn)
1. Chapter 1

Khan lounged lazily against the mountain of fur that was his rhino-panther watching the Fire Nation coastline slowly shrink into the horizon. Another hour or so and the sea would completely swallow it up and he'd finally be free of all his old problems that would never again be a nuisance. No more pain in the ass family members that would belittle and take his existence for granted. No more forced fire bending training that he didn't need or want, the fire benders in the army taught him well and anymore he'd learned on his own. Most of all no arranged marriages, the ultimate form of imprisonment to his families selfish machinations, more his mothers really but no one else backed him when he refused to accept his fate. Noble families were funny like that, quick to rally when threatened against outsiders but would be so quick to sell out their relatives if it meant gaining something significant. Khan often wondered how nobility existed in this modern day era, not that it mattered to him anymore because as of two hours ago this morning he was no longer of the Lee family and no longer a noble as far as he was concerned. Now it was just him and his best friend.

Shieva purred in a way that meant she was not happy being at sea and it showed by the way her tail curled up and her ears drooped sullenly. Then the way her stomach growled, well it was a good thing they were right next to the guard railing. Khan sat up and scooted up, he scratched her ears with one hand and slowly rubbed her belly with the other in an attempt to comfort her.

"Relax Shi-shi just relax girl, we'll be in the north pole soon and you can stretch your legs again." He said reassuringly although truthfully the merchant ship he'd bought passage on was at least two weeks away from the northern water tribes shores provided storms or pirates didn't slow them down. He wasn't going to tell her that of course. "Think of all those tasty fish you'll be eating."

Shieva groaned putting a paw over her face. Khan kicked himself, figuratively speaking, should've guessed anything relating to the sea was going to upset her. Had have to be careful not to mention the northern water tribe anymore for the duration of the trip. One the merchant seamen came up to them, she was a tall solidly built woman with streaks of silver in her short cropped hair, judging from her tan skin it was safe to assume she had seen many years at sea and would clearly be quick to call it home then any place on shore. By the looks of her nothing scared her but a four hundred pound rhino-panther made her stay at a distance.

"Is he gonna be okay? We're not cleaning up the mess if he loses it all over the deck." She said keeping her voice low.

"She, will be fine won't you girl?" Khan gently patted her on the head.

The whine Shieva let out would suit a cub rather then an adult rhino-panther.

"Right, the mop and bucket will be over here come with me and I'll show you can grab them from just in case." The way she stood meant she wasn't leaving until Khan got up and followed her.

Slipping off his back pack Khan got up leaving it leaning against Shieva "I'll be right back okay, try and rest." he took about half a step before he felt something holding him back. Glancing over his shoulder he found his companion pulling at his cloak with her mouth. Ever since they were little the rhino-panther never liked being unable to keep an eye on her human and the feeling was mutual for Khan. "Don't worry I'll only be a minute promise." He winked and smiled.

Shieva purred giving the cloak one last tug before letting go and laying her head down. The sailor started walking and Khan followed right beside her, she lead him through a door and down a short flight of stairs through a hallway and then arrived at a broom closet.

"Door's always unlocked so don't be afraid to come down here and get it when the time comes to clean up after your pet. Better yet grab it now just in case." She opened the door.

Khan did thinking it would be wise and followed the sailor back the way they'd come. Getting back to the deck they found the wild cat leaning over the guard rail the noise she was making was not in anyway pleasant.

"I'll leave you to handle that later kid." The sailor said with a grimace and walked away rather briskly.

Khan went up to his companion setting the mop and bucket aside "Let it all out, you'll be okay." he patted the furry part of her side because the rough leathery hide was rough on the hands. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed his backpack laying open on the floor. That wasn't right he'd had it closed up tight. Giving Shieva one more rub he hurried over to it and starting looking through its contents. A few changes of clothes, a heavy fur jacket when it got cold, a blanket for sleeping, some jerky and dried seaweed and a journal he kept for writing. Everything was in here except for. "Grandma and grandpas rings they're gone!" he suddenly felt very very ill, like having a really nasty stomach flu ill.

Those rings were made of gold, diamonds, amethyst and rubies they were worth a small fortune but more importantly they were all that remained of the only two people that cared about how he felt and what he wanted. Grandpa Jariah Lee and Grandma Aishi Lee were Khans mothers parents but unlike their estranged daughter they didn't act like the world owed them everything for nothing nor did they have an enormous chip on their shoulder. They were level headed good trustworthy people who loved all their grandchildren but seemed to favor Khan the most out of all them, he'd always found that odd. Up until they both passed away in a fire at their summer vacation spot on Ember Island. Neither of them were fire benders and the investigators labeled it as an accident. Fighting back tears Khan thought 'I have got to find those rings now!'

He closed the bag up tight and slipped it on his back, he wasn't going to risk anything else being stolen while he was away again. Khan figured someone stole them but the question was who?


	2. Chapter 1-2

It was early morning within the large Fire Nation port city, shortly after all the merchants had opened their wares for the day. The usually crowded streets were strangely bare. And even a few of the merchants were leaving their stands to see what the commotion was that was causing so many to gasp in amazement. It wasn't so uncommon for their to be street performers on the street corner. They set up shop where ever their were big crowds. What was odd was this one was an airbender. The Fire Nation was netorious for being closed off to all other nations. It was quite a lot of paperwork to ever let anyone outside the nation to enter. But Ayaka didn't seem to be any ordinary airbender. She did every sort of circus trick yo could think of, balancing, contortions, but the crowd favorite was the fact that she was able to spit fire without actually being a fire bender. It was a simple trick she had learned while traveling with a circus, hardly anyone in the circus were actually benders. They just fooled the crowd into believing they were. A simple mouth full of latern fluid and a little flame to start the geiser and she was breathing fire just as good as any other fire bender. She was even able to put her little spin on it with her airbending, giving the flames shape. It seemed like a whole lot of trouble though for the meager sum these high class citizens seemed to be willing to fill in the bag provided for donations. Unbeknownst to them though they were being robbed blind. As they were being buffeted by the wind she was giving off, she also managed to get a few of their coinpursts loose. They flew into the air with a simple gust of wind and was caught in the talons of her falcon hawk. It was her go to scam in the cases where she found herself significantly short on funds. If one thing she had learn within the circus it was misdirection and a slight of hand made it all so much easier to pick pockets of idiot nobles.

Ayaka may put on the rouse of simple street performer but her real profession, what got food on the table for her was being a theif and pickpocket. She may only be 16 years old but she had already seen more of all the nations then most merchants. She had lived most her life training at the Airbender Monastary but left before she managed to master her airbending and get her arrow tattoos. She had been one of the countless orphans that lived within and trained at the monestary. Aya felt as if it were more of a prison then a temple though. After she had escaped she had spent a few years as part of a traveling circus. The only thing that really showed she was an airbender were her old airbending robes she donned for all her performances. It was amazing how well they still fit as if she had grown at all since she was twelve and only look slightly more feminine then she did at that age.

She ended her final performance to a round of applause a few more meager coins. She gave a small bow to show her appreciation and also grab her bag from the ground. As she stood she was met by two large Fire Nation soldiers in full armor. She took a step back in surprise. "Can I help you fine Gentlemen?" She asked with a nervous smile. She was in deep trouble she just knew it. Had they spot the real trick hidden within all her others.

"We'll need to see some papers," one of the soldiers said as he offered a hand to receive them.

"Right, papers, let me just get them for you..." Aya replied nervously rubbing the back of her head. Of course that was all they cared about. The Fire Nations and their strict laws. Ayaka was trying to remember why she even came to this place.

"Oh no! I must of left them back on my ship, I'll just go back and grab them," Ayaka said as she quickly tried to run off only to be blocked by one of the two soldiers. "We'll escort you back to your ship so that we can get the papers there."

"You guys are just too kind, too kind indeed," Aya said as she turned around and placed her hands on the back of her head, making a strange symbol with her fingers so that neither of the soldiers saw it. Suddenly there was heard a loud screech from over head as something flew by and knocked one of the soldiers, causing his helmet to flip completely around and obscure his view as the other soldier tried to help him.

Aya took the moment of distraction as she started swirling her arms in circles and causing a disturbance in the strong wind coming up from the ocean. It stirred up the dirt all around her causing a mini sort of dust storm that blinded all who were around her. When the storm finally died down there was nothing left of her.

"Looks like that's our que to leave," Ayaka said from the shadow of a tree she was perched it, her falcon hawk Sol perched on one of her outstretched arms with a bag of gold in its beak. He dropped it into her hands and she added it to the rest of their loot.

It wasn't long after that the two soldiers found more and they had the whole town covered as their looked for the lone airbender girl who they had found out had managed to steal from quite a few nobles and merchants. What they weren't looking for was an old fire nation woman who was slowly making her way upon one of the merchant ships. She was short with a large hunch, wearing a dirty grey cloak and using a short cane. For a moment the woman lifted up her hood taking a glance back with deep brown eyes at the soldiers guarding the port. They were just too easy to fool, Ayaka thought with a slight smirk. Sol leaned down to look out as well he was acting as her makeshift hunch along with their bag of loot.

"You be a good boy Sol, okay?" Aya said as she replaced the hood and began to slowly bored the ship as if her aching old joints were causing her to slow down. Aya only let out a breath when the ship finally started out of port and into sea. SHe didn't much care where the ship took her as long as she was rotting in some Fire Nation jail.

When she felt a tug at the back of her head she instantly knew it was Sol. "I know you want to but we can't risk getting caught yet and thrown overboard." She said but the falcon hawk persisted as he tugged at the braid of dark brown hair. Finally she broke and lifted up her hood, "Fine! But a quick stretch of your wings and then its back in the hump." Sol took off the moment he could, his wings skimming along the water until he found a good gust of hair and soared higher up where he wouldnt' be spotted. A couple minutes later and he was back at the railing where Aya was standing and to her delight sporting some new jeweler for her. "Oh you lil kiss up, you know just what a girl wants," she giggles as she places the rings on her own fingers and lets Sol back inside the cloak. "I'm not even sure I want to sell these, they're gorgeous." She watched the light reflect off the jewels.


	3. Chapter 1-3

The merchant ship wasn't big and the crew was barely a dozen a strong so that narrowed down suspects to just that number. Well minus the woman from before she couldn't have stolen the rings since she was with Khan before they disappeared. Perhaps the captain too, maybe, but he knew Khan was nobility just by looking at him when they negotiated the price for their trouble. The idea that the woman would take a little bit extra didn't seem like a stretch to him. However, before going to confront the good captain herself Khan thought perhaps he should investigate the crew, as best he could anyway.  
'I should've keep my bag with me,' He thought kicking himself and wishing he could do it literally. 'I am such an idiot!'  
Khan knew seafaring folk were shifty but he allowed his new found freedom make him careless, that wasn't gonna happen again ever. He shivered at the idea that his grandparents were disappointed with him and frowning upon him from the afterlife.  
'I will correct my mistake even if I have to tear down this entire ship down to do it.' He took a deep breath and over came his self loathing.  
The young fire bender walked the deck at an even pace watching members of the crew up top searching for signs that might tip him off to their guilt. Unfortunately, they were so damn busy keeping the ship running that he couldn't find any thing, they didn't even seem to notice him walking about. Khan looked to the ocean thinking perhaps the calm seas would calm his own temperament, it sort of did actually. In a weird yet familiar way. Khan pondered over this for a few minutes as he continued his walk.  
The ocean sparkled in the suns light waves rising and falling lazily. Warm breezes coming from the west caressed his cheek like a lover before a chaste kiss. Some how that felt familiar too but why? A falcon-hawk flew past breaking Khan out of his train of thought. Weird, birds didn't usually fly out this far from land and in this particular birds case not far the woodlands and mountains neither of which were nearby, how very odd. Curiously Khan watched it glide through the air preening as it went. As the bird shifted it's course towards the ship Khan spotted a glint of gold coming from it's talons, he couldn't tell from here but he was sure that those could be his rings. He followed it at a jog noting it was getting closer to the boat and closer to whoever it's master was and whoever they were was going to surrender the rings or get burned.  
The Falcon-hawk perched itself on the arm of someone wearing a cloak with the hood pulled over, it's master apparently. Khan slowed to a walk and watched for the gold objects, he would confront the potential thief only if they did in fact have his rings in their possession. Indeed they were his and the thief had the guile to wear them like she(?) owned them. Matter of fact when did they get on board?  
Temper rising he approached brushing past two sailors who scolded him for being so rude. Khan didn't care he only cared about making up for his mistake and getting back his property.  
"I'm only saying this once, give those back or I will take them back, the hard way." He dropped into a fighting stance and starting to gather his chi predicting this was going to end violently. Good, he needed to let off his steam. In fact as a show of intimidation he snorted actual smoke from his nose, a little trick he learned from when he was in the army.


End file.
